“Mestizo” was one of the first words I learned when I started studying Spanish in 7th grade at Argyle Junior High School. In this case, it was used to describe Mexicans who were the descendants of African slaves. I don’t remember how it came up, but I know that this was during the time of “Roots” and I bet my progressive, blonde, blue eyed teacher from Spain, Mrs. Malitz, wanted to inject some relevance into the inane dialogues we were required to commit to memory and recite.
Esta Susanna en casa?
Si, …

The 16th Erase Racism Carnival is Here! Click on over and you’ll find a host of great writers all putting their best words forward to tackle racism. All About Race is honored to be featured in the carnival as well.
Also there you’ll see more of Robert Shetterly’s Americans Who Tell the Truth Portraits.
Hats off to Alas, A Blog for doing such a terrific job putting the Carnival together this month.
Enjoy!
Carmen D.

I wanted to call your attention to a traveling exhibit of portraits entitled: Americans Who Tell the Truth.
Americans Who Tell the Truth, which includes more than 100 paintings, was created as artist Robert Shetterly’s answer to the attacks of 9/11 and what he saw happening in America.
I began painting this series of portraits — finding great Americans who spoke the truth and combining their images with their words — nearly three years ago as a way of to channel my anger and grief. In the process my respect and love …

If there were going to be several statues of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the Mall in DC, who created those statues would not matter as much. But, there will be one statue and the fact that the selection committee went all the way to China to find an artist they deemed suitable to create this statue is an insult to the vital and diverse creative community right here in America. Here’s the story laid out in the Los Angeles Times:
CHANGSHA, China — Someday, a great monument in Washington …